Swift Air has been issued with a license to commence flights from Chicago O’Hare International Airport to Zagreb Pleso Airport. The service, which is being chartered by the Fly Air Plus tour operator, will commence on June 3, two weeks before the same airline commences services to Belgrade. The Chicago – Zagreb service will operate every Friday until September 14, using the Boeing 767-200ER. The airline will operate flights from Chicago with a similar departure time as the service to Belgrade, while the departure time on the return leg will differ slightly, leaving the Croatian capital on Sunday morning. Flight details will soon be available on the right hand side in the new route launches section. The Chicago – Belgrade flight times can be found here.

The “Jutarnji list” daily writes that North American Airlines was offered an array of subsidies to commence services from New York to the Croatian capital this summer, however, the airline declined, stating there would be no interest.

There have been no direct flights from Zagreb to the United States since 1991. In its golden years of the late 1980s, JAT Yugoslav Airlines operated flights from Zagreb to New York, Chicago, Toronto and Montreal. In recent years, the now defunct Skyservice offered seasonal summer flights from Toronto to Zagreb.